Air mattresses are very common bedding items in the medical care field and can be differently designed according to different applications. Among others, there is an inflatable stretcher that includes an air mattress having a plurality of perforations formed on a bottom thereof. Air inside the air mattress can jet out of the air mattress via the perforations to reduce the friction between the air mattress and a supporting surface, such as the ground surface, so that the inflatable stretcher can be more easily moved to transport the patient lying thereon.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional inflatable stretcher, which mainly includes an air mattress 01, at least one air hose 02 and an inflating device 03, such as a motor, a pump or the like. The inflating device 03 is connected to the air mattress 01 via the air hose 02 for supplying air into the air mattress 01 to inflate the same. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the air hose 02 is connected to the air mattress 01 by directly inserting an end of the air hose 02 into an opening 04 provided on the air mattress 01. There is not any other holding device provided at the opening 04 for securely holding the air mattress 01 and the air hose 02 to one another. When the above-described conventional inflatable stretcher is in use, it is very often the air mattress 01 is moved by an operator relative to the air hose 02. At this point, the only means that keeps the air hose 02 connected to the air mattress 01 is the coupling design between the air hose 02 and the opening 04.
To prevent the air hose 02 from separating from the air mattress 01 due to a movement of the air mattress 01 relative to the air hose 02 or due to the continuous change of air pressure inside the air hose 02, and to maintain an airtight coupling of the air hose 02 to the air mattress 01, most conventional inflatable stretchers have to use an air hose 02 that is sized to match the opening 04 provided on the air mattress 01, so that the air hose 02 can be fitly engaged with the opening 04. Or, a connector for correspondingly connecting the air hose 02 to the opening 04 is designed and used to stop them from separating from each other. Or, some kind of fastening device is provided on the air hose 02 for fastening to the air mattress 01, so that the air hose 02 won't become separated from the air mattress 01 due to any movement of the inflatable stretcher.
However, with all the above coupling designs, the air hose and the opening on the air mattress or the coupling mechanisms provided between them must always match in size. That is, the air hose and the coupling mechanisms could not be freely replaced with other differently sized air hoses or coupling mechanisms, which causes inconvenience in repairing or maintaining the conventional inflatable stretcher. Further, being restricted to use with only the air hose of a predetermined specification, the air mattress and the inflating device are also not freely replaceable with other functionally improved ones to meet actual need in use.